New DLR Institutes

The German Federal Government has approved 42 million euro in funding to establish six new institutes within the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). The institutes will be in Hamburg, Dresden, Augsburg, Jena, Oldenburg, and Bremerhaven and will focus on aviation, big and smart data, energy research, and security. The institutes will be established in cooperation with the Federal States and will be integrated at their locations within the local and regional research networks.

Aviation institutes for virtual aircraft

Numerical simulation methods for new aircraft will enable virtual testing and, hence, faster and less risky introduction of new aviation technologies. Researchers in Hamburg will be exploring new maintenance and repair concepts, as well as system architectures for aviation. Through strategic platform research and development, the institute in Dresden will support the aviation sector in the areas of hardware, software and application systems. The institute in Augsburg will establish computer-assisted, structural-mechanical simulation tools to develop high-performance components in new engines.

Big and smart data

The institute in Jena will develop concepts for the management, integration and multidisciplinary processing, analysis and preparation of large data volumes. It will also investigate the digital transformation process by contributing to Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, and other relevant issues.

Maritime safety

The institute in Bremerhaven will study the protection and safety of maritime infrastructure, including offshore wind farms. There is currently no facility or institution in Germany that focuses comprehensively on the protection and safety of these infrastructures from a research perspective, and that also takes into account private and public sector requirements.

System integration and energy management

Precise knowledge of how the various components of the energy system interact and how they can be optimized is crucial to the ongoing implementation of the energy transition to include larger proportions of renewable energies. A focus of the institute in Oldenburg will be the integration of various storage technologies and so-called sectoral coupling – the interconnection of energy, mobility, and industry, as well as electricity, heat, and fuel.